By Elizabeth Adegbesan

It may be shocking to see a woman in this time and age blending tomatoes with a traditional manual grinding stones instead of an electric blender or a modern manual blender. 

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But, the shock will quickly disappear when you hear what it takes to purchase one electric blender or what it costs an average housewife to grind a little basket of tomatoes.

In this grilling economy, nobody is ready to waste the little resources at his or her disposal.

So, a return to the cheap old ways has become the new normal.

Economy&Lifestyle discovered that the reasons are not far fetched from the high cost of living and the struggle of households to cut costs by any means. 

Most of the users of this traditional grinder have it lying at home for years without use.

They patronize modern grinders as technology improves but the high cost of goods and services resulting from the deprecation of the naira makes such modern grinders more expensive, leading to importation of less expensive but low quality ones that get damaged quickly. 

 Mrs. Alele Johnson, a petty trader, said she uses a traditional manual grinder for almost every grinding of food items she does including tomatoes. 

“I use a corona grinder for almost every grinding of food items  including tomatoes. 

“I have bought this grinder since the year 2000 and it has just been in my kitchen doing nothing. 

“One of the reasons I use my corona grinder to blend tomatoes is because using a commercial grinding machine will result in waste.

“We are in a season when tomatoes and pepper are very expensive and extra expenses, is a waste. 

“I don’t have a blender and don’t intend buying one because nowadays most of the affordable blenders are of low quality.

“Even the cost of grinding tomatoes is high. In some areas they charge you according to the quantity of what you want to grind.

“While others will tell you that the cost of fuel, maintenance of the commercial grinding machine, rent of space is taking a toll on them, hence they increase the price of grinding no matter what the quantity is.”

Mrs Judith Amadi, a crayfish seller, noted that the high cost of tomatoes and pepper made her stop patronizing the commercial grinders. 

“I don’t have money to buy tomatoes and peppers everyday.

“So I stopped patronizing commercial grinder and started using my traditional grinding machine that I abandoned at home.

“I don’t have a grinding stone which I would have preferred most.

“I now use the corona grinder for almost every grinding including leaves.

“This is because I don’t have an electric blender and if you even have one you will be scared of using it, especially when you are using a prepaid meter, in order to manage electricity units.

“Now that tomatoes and pepper are very expensive,  the grinder has stopped wastage because those commercial ones will get your tomatoes and pepper stuck  inside with most of it  leaking from the back.

“The quantity of waste is higher than the quantity you get after the whole process.

“Also, it has erased the cost of grinding in my budget.

“A few  years ago,  you could grind your tomato pepper mixtures for N50 but now the price ranges from N300 to N500 depending on the area excluding quantity. 

“If you want to blend leaves and other things,  you have to pay N800 above.”

The traditional manual grinder is a grinder made of steel and found in every home in the 90’s.

It is mostly used to blend grains like melon, ogbono, dry pepper and other spices.

However,  the advent of modern blenders has made most households abandon the traditional one to explore technology. 

But the current state of living has halved the hope of many households who now return to the once abandoned traditional manual grinders to cut costs.

Mrs. Omolara Ayotunde, a commercial tomato grinder, complained about the low patronage experienced whenever there is tomato and pepper price hike.

“In the season when tomatoes and pepper are expensive,  people hardly grind.

“Many prefer using traditional manual grinders while those well to do people use electric blenders.

“If I were not a commercial grinder, I would do the same too to avoid waste of tomatoes. 

“Most of these commercial grinders after a long time of usage develop faults and in such situations waste anything one grind in it.

“On the cost of grinding,  everybody knows that things are expensive. 

“After a day’s work , the profit I make is nothing to write home about.  It is very poor.

“Expenses like fuel cost, water, space rent, maintenance cost are what I face especially now that there is low patronage.”

Vanguard News